A bird's eye view of nanoparticles prepared by electrospraying: advancements in drug delivery field

Recent analysis of the published data reveals the increasing importance of nanotechnology in the field of drug delivery, especially due to easy modulation of drug release and targeting effect. Various conventional methods including nanoprecipitation, spray drying, solvent evaporation, supercritical fluid extraction and ionotropic gelation are well-explored for lab-scale production of nanoparticles and present their own advantages and limitations. Electrospraying a variant of electrospinning is a method based on the processing of polymeric solutions/melt under high electrical voltage to produce particles of desired nature; post optimization of process parameters. This technique is comparatively newer one presenting itself as a competent alternative for the production of polymeric nanoparticles. Owing to its simplicity and flexibility electrospraying can be used to generate particulate material with meticulous structure, size and morphology; providing advantages of controlled release, improved dissolution rate, taste masking of drug candidates and many more. There is very less literature offering pertinent information about the production of nanoparticles by electrospraying technique as most of them deal with materialistic parameters only. This creates a void in learning and understanding of this novel technique for production of nanoparticles encapsulating drug candidates. Also there is a need of exploration in terms of drug release. Present article will provide an overview of electrospraying based production of nanoparticles for controlled and customized drug delivery, to fill this gap. Basic principle, instrumental set-up, advantages and limitations of electrospraying technique over other conventional nanoparticle production techniques and critical process parameters affecting nanoparticle properties is dealt in detail. Brief description of various polymeric nanoparticles (Polymers of natural as well as synthetic origin) with numerous case studies is given providing vast knowledge of drug encapsulation and modulated release patterns in correlation to polymer type used, structure and morphology of nanoparticles produced.